Episode from the podcastThe Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

Hotter than the Dickens

Released Tuesday, 20th May 2025

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Hotter than the Dickens

Tuesday, 20th May 2025

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When Charles Dickens published Bleak House in 1852, he included a scene where one character spontaneously combusts. 🔥 🔥 🔥 Readers loved it, but one of Dickens’s good friends—a former scientist—blasted Dickens for his scientific ignorance. It ignited one of the strangest controversies in literary history.

**preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a** 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”.

This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so take advantage today!

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A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.

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Hotter than the Dickens

Hotter than the Dickens

Hotter than the Dickens

preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”.

This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so take advantage today!

From The Podcast

Join Podchaser to...

**preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a** 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”.